The Ocean's Longest Floating Structure Will Help Rid Oceans of Plastic

The Ocean Cleanup is pretty self-explanatory, even if its exact workings are actually rather wondrous. It's a concept that involves installing the largest floating structure ever deployed in the ocean, to be situated between Japan and South Korea. The project is expected to be come a reality in the second quarter of 2016.

The idea involves deploying huge floating gyres that will collect pieces of plastic floating in the ocean. The system is passive in that ocean currents are used to herd plastic waste into the gyres toward a central point where it is collected. Since the gyres float on the surface of the water, marine life is able to pass by underneath.

The Ocean Cleanup project is admittedly audacious, but it's the kind of big thinking that will be needed to clean up the oceans.